


Fee Fie Foe Fum

by ChangeableConsistency



Category: X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-02-07
Updated: 2012-02-07
Packaged: 2017-10-30 18:11:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/334627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChangeableConsistency/pseuds/ChangeableConsistency
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles and the Beanstalk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fee Fie Foe Fum

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Nine Eleven Ten](https://archiveofourown.org/works/252402) by [Subtilior](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Subtilior/pseuds/Subtilior). 



> This sprouted all sorts of awful things in my head: Tony Stark as Snow White; Steve Rogers as Sleeping Beauty; Peter Parker (or, switching multiverses, Bruce Wayne) as the Beast in Beauty and the Beast.
> 
> Speaking of Beauty and the Beast, if you haven't already read it, Nine Ten Eleven is AMAZING. But, Dude, totally heed the warnings.

Charles couldn't remember ever being so hungry. Raven and he had been on their own since they were children and had always found a way to feed themselves. The last two years on the farm had been prosperous and he had thought maybe they were finally done running. He'd even thought about going back to teaching.

And then the Great Drought came. It didn't matter that between them they could be anyone or know anything if everyone was starving. Neither one of them was willing to take from the less fortunate, and right now that was everyone. At least they still had the cow. If only the drought would break, one good rainstorm was all they really needed. 

"Charles," Raven's voice trembled as she came out of the barn, "Emma's..."

Charles stomach clenched with dread, he had know this was coming but had hoped for more time. With Emma's milk gone, the only option left was the butcher or the tanner. She may have been a mean tempered creature, but she had held out the longest of all the animals and given everything she had. It wasn't fair that she was going to be reduced to a few meals and a stack of white leather, but they had no other choice.

He gathered his sister into his arms, hugging her tightly. "I'll take her into town. We should be able to get enough supplies to start traveling north."

Raven sobbed drily against his chest, holding him tightly. When they had fled their home it had been to cries of, "Monsters!" and "Kill them!" Going back north meant hiding their powers so deeply that they might never get to use them again. The alternative was starvation and dehydration.

If he focused on everything that wasn't fair in the world they would both starve to death. He shook the thought off as he gave Raven one last squeeze before going to halter Emma for the long walk into town. Emma wanted nothing of it, biting and kicking as if she knew what was to come. It broke his heart to see such desperation.

He was about halfway there when he came upon Scott, the one-eyed trader that wandered from town to town, resting on the wall that bordered the road. He had seen in the man's memories how he had lost the eye protecting his younger brother Alex from a mob much like the one that had come after Charles and Raven. A good man to have at your back; he had always been honest, if a bit stiff. It was a shame he was traveling south, he would have made a good companion.

It was a bit of luck meeting Scott while he had stopped for a break. If he had enough supplies with him and was willing to trade them for Emma, Charles and Raven could start out tomorrow morning, instead of having to chose between traveling at night or waiting another day. Honestly, he shouldn't have been so sentimental. He should have done this days ago; at least then he would have been able to make a better bargain for the milky white cow.

He cheats. He hates to do it, but that's never stopped him when it's come down to a matter of their survival. He eases through Scott's mind, finding out exactly how much he can take without compromising the merchant's livelihood. He could take it all of course, but he isn't that desperate. Not yet.

He's walking away, a pack over each shoulder when Scott stops him, "Professor Xavier? I have one more thing..."

In his outstretched palm are 5 beans, each a different size and color. Scott can't remember where he got them, just that they're important and need to go to the right person.

"I think you'll know what to do with these."

He hasn't the slightest idea, but it seems important to the trader and it won't hurt him to take them, though he doesn't see the use. There isn't enough water to grow them and there aren't enough to ease to the ache in anyone's belly. He takes them with a sad smile.

"Thank you, Scott. If you could find away to spare Emma?" There was a chance, if only a chance that the one-eyed man would be able to find a way to make more of her than her base parts, "She's a horrid beast, but if you can earn her loyalty, you won't find a more faithful creature."

He thinks about the beans on the walk home. He's not sure what they are, and is worried they may even be poisonous. Maybe he'll plant them in the dry bed of the garden, a gift to the future residents when the rains return. And they will. When they do Charles and Raven might even be able to come back and visit the small cottage to see what has grown. Charles has to believe that the future will be brighter; it's the only way he knows to live.

Later, he's leaning over the small hole he's made for the strange beans and is overwhelmed with an urge to say goodbye to the home he's grown to love. He lets go, opening his mind to the countryside. Raven's a bright flickering candle flame and his lets his thoughts eddy around her, leaving her the peace he promised her so long ago; he expands outward, further and further. 

One of the reasons they chose this farm in the first place was its distance from anyone else, but right now he needs one last connection to the friends, neighbors, rivals and even strangers that he has come to know over the past couple of years. He stretches his senses to the limit, barely reaching the town and opens himself for just a second, to feel everything. It hits him like a tidal wave, sucking him under. So much hunger, so much despair. He wonders if it will consume him whole, burned to ash in a crucible of pain; but then Raven calls his name and he pulls back into himself like a genie returning to his bottle. He's surprised to find his cheeks wet, Raven has him wrapped in her arms and is rocking him gently, returning the comfort he offered her just that morning when the last of her hope had dried up and was ready to blow away. Neither notice that each of the beans had soaked in a single teardrop, their coats taking on a pearlescent sheen.

Charles covers the beans with a handful of dusty soil and a wish for them to grow strong and tall. They head inside for a dinner of watery gruel made from their nearly spent stores before going to sleep; they'll have an early start in the morning.


End file.
